The gals convinced me I needed to join them for a fall dirtbike ride at my favorite trail, Little O in Baldwin, MI. It has a mix of everything, forty miles of whoops, tight trees, roots and rocks and sand – very fun!! Here’s a quick Go Pro video of the girls that were along. Sorry to the guys we met at the end of the trail, I thought I had you on video but the battery must have died prior to meeting you…I’ll have to catch ya next time!!
I’ll add some photos from the ride later 
Go Pro video of heading out of Moab, UT via 128, great motorcycle road along the Colorado River. I’ll admit my video editing leaves a bit to be desired but at least it shows the gorgeous scenery along the route 
I had the GoPro running as I rode through a quick hail storm on Boulder Mountain on UT-12. Yep, I was yelping a bit as those hailstones hit – those little buggers hurt on a motorcycle. I felt lucky, the guys I passed on the way up didn’t have helmets on… OUCH!!
Just a quick Go Pro video from my recent trip out west. This is leaving Devil’s Tower heading toward Moorcroft, WY – great road with few motorhomes!!
I’ve been back for a couple of weeks and I’m working on getting my trip written up. While I’m working on it, here’s a slideshow of some of the photos of my 3 week trip. Thanks for looking!!
To celebrate the year anniversary of my first big motorcycle trip last spring, I decided I’d pick up where I left off (blatantly neglected) on the blog. One year ago today, in Arizona, I lost the will to blog while riding so I just posted the trip log for May 7, 2010. I’ll do my best to post each day with its corresponding 2010 trip log. Hope it doesn’t put anyone to sleep
Up at 5:30 am I hopped in the shower (not sure why), got dressed and loaded up the trailer and the car. Andy’s not much for getting up this early but after a bit of prodding he was up and around. A few delays caused us to leave a little a later than I wanted to so I was pretty frantic for most of the 2 hour drive to Log Road MX track.
As Andy unloaded my bike and got stuff ready, I headed down to registration. I settled down a little when I realized the quads had just started their one hour race so I had plenty of time and didn’t have to frantically gear up. After watching the quads race for a bit I geared up and drank a couple of bottles of water.
Soon the announcer was calling for a rider’s meeting and we were on our way to start the parade lap. The bike started ride up then instantly stalled, I figured I was replaying my ride the other day until Andy suggested I check to see whether the gas was on…NOPE…OOPS…not surprisingly it started up fine with gas
The parade lap was a challenge, the lap started off on the MX and dipped into the woods, the uphill rutted turns and log crossing were alot of fun but shortly after came the bogs. I’m surprised small children weren’t swallowed into the black muck along with their bikes!!
Back to the start, and after a couple gulps of Gatorade I was lined up in with the ‘T’ group ready to start. I love the time before the first wave goes off. Since the hare scrambles are a dead start there is complete silence until the flag goes up and first group of engines start and buzz away.
Starting line nerves
I generally have pretty bad nerves until the race starts, that was the case for this race as well. I think I was off the line in third or fourth and rolled around the track until it ducked into the woods. Just as in the parade laps, kids on little bikes were getting stuck in the bogs or sliding out on slimy roots…thankfully there were helpers to get them unstuck and on their way again.
The first couple of laps felt great and I wasn’t nearly fatigued as I was when racing on my CRF 150F, 100 pounds sure does make a difference when lifting a bike up from a crash!! I was in fourth place when I came through for my last lap and as I was heading into the downhill right turn into the woods from the track I hit a braking bump or something and the bike pitched me onto my head. To add insult to injury, the back end of the bike came back around and slammed into the back of my head.
If I were in my 20′s still I probably would have finished out the lap but being the old lady I am, I had the track worker lead me off the track. My head was only spinning a little while I took off my disgustingly muddy gear, I’m guessing the white pants weren’t the best option I ended up in 5th place out of 12, I won’t neglect to state that 6th through 12th place were DNF’s. I had a blast and look forward to the next race in a couple of weeks, now I just need to get into shape!!
Pics from the track portion
Do these pants make my butt look fast? LOL…couldn’t resist!!
The week had finally come, Sunday would be my return to racing hare scrambles, with this return would come a fair amount of work and well some errors and frustration on my part.
Monday after my exhausting ride at Holton Loop, I came home and decided to do a “quick” oil change…well it should have been quick. Apparently, I have no spacial reasoning while working on something upside down because as I was loosening the drain bolt (using my lefty loosey righty tighty ) I neglected to remember that the bolt was upside down and in fact I was overtightening the bolt. Once I realized this, I backed off the bolt and SNAP… oil started draining out and I suddenly had a broken drain bolt in my oily palm. I’m definitely glad Andy came riding up the driveway at the moment, if he hadn’t I’m quite sure my temper would have gotten the best of me and tools would have been chucked across the street!!
Being the great guy he his, Andy volunteered to take my bike in to the shop on his day off to see if he could fix it for me. After fretting all day about how much damage I had done (I read way too much about people cracking their case doing what I had done) he told me that it took all of five minutes and an easy out to repair the damage I had done…phew disaster averted!!
Finally, Friday came along and I didn’t have to work late so I figured I’d get a nice ride in and make sure everything was working well. The first mile or so went great shortly after, the bike started to make funny noises and then at about 3 miles out it died and refused to come back to life. My first thought was to check the spark plug, but in my infinite wisdom I neglected to bring along tools so my only choice was to hoof it back to the parking lot.
Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a nice long hike in the woods but after about a mile of pushing a 150 pound bike through the woods in full moto gear I was close to curling up and overnighting it in the Manistee National Forest!! But dreams of pizza and Mt. Dew kept me pressing on until I saw…is it a mirage?!?! No, it’s an oasis in this deciduous jungle AKA the parking lot. I’m just glad I got loaded up and on my way before the mosquitoes carried me off to their lair.
Sure enough when I got home and we pulled the spark plug it was fouled. The best we can figure it was due to an over rich mixture caused by me getting to the bottom of my gas can and not doing a great job of mixing it. Saturday morning I got to practice my siphoning skills to drain out the tank and start fresh. Just for the record gas tastes disgusting!! After a bit more work and a little helping getting my numbers on my bike was ready for the next day’s race.
New HS Numbers
Just thought I’d quick post a few pictures I took at this years BMW Motorcycles Grand Rapids Demo Days that took place at Alpha Training Center in Lansing, MI. Despite the angry looking clouds, that in the afternoon brought a downpour, there was a healthy turnout and lots of motorcycles.
Along with being able to demo a full stable of current BMW models, including the sexy S1000RR, folks that came out were treated to the BMW Police Demo Team of retired Sgt. Dick Rothermel and Sgt. Ron Gromak doing amazing slow speed demos and BMW Motorad Stunt Rider Chris “Teach” McNeil performing his fast-paced, very impressive stunt show.
Apparel Booth
Stable of bikes available to demo
That’s my sweetie…how does he stay so skinny?!?!
Dick narrating
Dick in the Intersection
Ron and the RT-P
Dick and Ron in the keyhole
“Teach” performing a stoppie on the G450x
F800GS Burnout
“Teach” wheelie – F800GS with full bags
S1000RR
No Hands!!
Highchair wheelie
Teach’s Rig
GS Roundel
Good turnout
Thankfully, today would be short ride, an hour ride from Tulare to the day’s destination, Sequoia National Park. Sequoia is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time, it’s hard for me to believe that trees could grow to such sizes and now I would have a chance to see them in person.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the ride to the park, I had no idea how many orchards were in this particular area. Orange, Lemon and Olive groves lined the road for the majority of the ride. The smell was unbelievable, I couldn’t stop taking huge breaths to inhale as much of the wonderful aroma as possible!!
As I rode nearer to the park, the foothills started to come into view and soon would rise above me on both sides of the road. Upon entering Three Rivers, CA the mighty Kaweah River appeared, frothing and bubbling over the large rocks in the riverbed.
Through the gates to the park and into the Foothills Visitor’s Center I decided Buckeye Flats Campground would be where I would setup camp for the night. The hillsides were covered with blooming Yuccas and various wildflowers and the Kaweah was still in view, I eventually found the campground and followed the narrow drive down to the sites.
Apparently, Sunday at check-out time is a good time to arrive to find a great campsite!! I cruised the loop a couple of times and settled on a huge site overlooking the river. After setting up, I decided to try to ride up the mountain to get my first glimpse of the big trees. After about 15 minutes of twisty roads I started riding into the clouds and my faceshield became coated with sleet, time to turn around, the big trees would have to wait until morning.
After returning to camp, I decided to check out the little trail that I saw running through camp to the river. As I was grabbing some food and getting ready to head out, another motorcyclist pulled up. Carl from Frazier, CO was exploring back roads around UT, NV, and CA and wondered if I’d mind sharing a campsite (NPS allows two motorcycles per campsite). The more the merrier (and cheaper) especially when fellow motorcyclists are concerned
Carl, being a long distance off-road runner, geared up for a trail run as I was heading out to hike the trail.
Campground Trail
The Mighty Kaweah River
Meadow along the trail
One of the many wildflowers along the trail
Random photos from the trail
I learned a very valuable lesson on that little hike…rocks along the river are slippery and cameras smash easily I slipped on the trail and fell forward with the front of my nicer point-and-shoot smashing on a rock to the point where the lens would no longer extend. Bummer, at least I had my extra little cheapo camera and could hold off buying a replacement until Vegas.
While heading back to camp, I felt a slight mist start which opened up into a thunderstorm when I got back into the tent. The pattering of the rain on my tent and the rumbles of thunder lulled me into a sleep, what better way to spend a rainy evening in the land of the giants?
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